The present invention relates to a sheet metal punch, and in particular to a gutter outlet punch for punching outlet holes in rain gutters.
Connection of downspouts to rain gutters has presented a number of problems that have not yet been solved.
The most usual connection has consisted of a flanged insert in a hole punched in the bottom of the rain gutter and projecting downwardly therefrom to be received in the upper end of a downspout. With such inserts it is difficult to provide a leak-proof joint between the gutter bottom and the insert. In addition, the flange of the insert at the joint presents a raised rim around the opening into the insert on which various debris such as leaves, sticks, and the like, can catch, and in any event to prevent complete drainage into the downspout so that weathering and deterioration are accelerated.
Some craftsmen have chiseled, hacksawed or otherwise cut downspout holes and have bent the material into downward tabs to facilitate alignment of the upper end of a downspout and connection thereto. However, as thus produced, the holes have been rough in outline and the tabs of rather crude formation. Because of the relative difficulty of practicing this method, it has required a rather high degree of skill to produce a reasonable workman-like result, and has consumed more installation time and labor than warranted.
Another disadvantage of all prior attempts to create effective downspout connections has been that at least some part of the connection of necessity had to be prefabricated or preformed before hanging of the gutter. At least the downspout hole was preformed. This has all too often resulted in misalignment of the downspout relative to the necessary or desired vertical position for the downspouts such as along a reentrant comer or an outside corner of a building or along or between windows, or the like and especially where some vertical line of reference can be compared with the vertical disposition of the downspout. Such misalignment has been caused by either miscalculation or tolerances and variables in the performing or prefabricating operations or in the installation of the gutter. In other words, prefabrication according to plan or according to measurements taken at the building site may be inaccurate either as taken or as executed or fail to take into consideration a subsequent change in plan or construction. Therefore unless the variation is extreme, downspout installation is generally permitted to proceed even though there is inevitable misalignment or at least noticeable deviation from true alignment.
Another problem with previous solutions for providing downspout connections has been the lack of a ratchet in the punch mechanism. Without such a ratchet, the installer must typically stand on a ladder and pull some sort of lever, causing a blade to punch a hole in the gutter. Ladders are often quite high and may be unstable, and the physical motion required to pull a lever may cause the installer to fall off the ladder.
An associated problem has been that two hands are required to operate the punch, one hand to hold the punch in place and the other to operate the handle. This prevents the installer from holding onto the ladder.
Still another problem with previous mechanisms has been that the punching blade is uncovered when the device is transported to and from the rain gutter, which may lead to the installer cutting his hands or other parts of his body on the unprotected blade.
Yet another problem of previous mechanisms has been that the installer has been required to manually remove the punched piece of metal, or slug, from the mechanism. The slugs have sharp edges, which may cause inadvertent cuts to the installer's fingers.
There is a need for a gutter outlet punch that solves the above-mentioned problems.